Went to Thursday night’s big presentation for some Brit architects’Â big plans for the post-viaduct Seattle waterfront.
They’re pretty much as I’d feared.
Lots of big, potentially bleak, empty spaces. Lots of monumental “architectural features” and spots for gigantic public art pieces.
Nothing intimate. Nothing human-scale. Nothing quirky. Everything huge and slick and “green” (as in huge-empty-front-lawn green), all reeking of world-class-osity.
(Oh, but the designers would consider putting in “thermal pools,” aka public hot tubs, so we all could touch the water during the cold months.)
I’d rather have Atlantic City (pre-Trump) or Blackpool.
Let’s have a boardwalk (wood, not concrete please). Let’s have a place for buskers and food carts and street artists. Let’s have an (at least seasonal) amusement park pier to fully replace the already mourned Fun Forest. Let’s set aside a budget stage human social/cultural events along the water, even if it means cutting back on the scope of new construction in the project.
I don’t want a waterfront with good taste.
I want a waterfront that tastes good.
